By Lori Homstad, business owner and mother of two

Whether you love football season or not, it’s easy to love spending time outside now that the hot temperatures are fading into a comfortable fall. If you’re cooking on the stove or manning the barbecue grill, you can easily make both the kitchen and the patio area more stylish and functional. Here are some tips to make it happen:

For the kitchen, focus on convenience, comfort and control. Some window blinds are either hard-to-reach or large and heavy. When you’re choosing window treatments for the kitchen, consider some of the motorized varieties because they can be opened or closed with the touch of a button. This is especially helpful if you’ve got a hard-to-reach area over the sink. Motorization creates a cordless environment that’s safer for kids and pets, too.

The blinds can either be battery-powered and WireFree or can be wired or plugged in. You can control the movement from a wall switch, hand-held remote or an automatic timer, (all of which are backed by a five-year warranty.) Check out the demo in the YouTube video below. Your kids would appreciate the high-tech “cool factor� here.

If you or your husband like to barbeque this time of year, make sure the patio looks as good as the food! Often the patio is the most neglected area of the house when it comes to decorating and comfort. We do lots of free in-home consultations with clients who ask about outdoor solar shades for the patio, and they’re always surprised at how much style they add. (And yes, they’re affordable, too!)

Solar shades reduce glare and block UV rays which helps protect your furnishings from sun fading. They come in lots of rich colors and fabric styles. Regardless of whether your personal style is contemporary, traditional or elegant, there’s definitely an option that fits the look you want. I’ve seen these types of shades used in just about every type of home décor you can imagine. And these blinds do help lower your air-conditioning bill, so everybody wins.

Home design is so much more than furniture and accessories. Remember that the way you finish off your windows can pull the whole room together and take the room’s sense of style to a whole new level.

Related article listed below. Click on the title to read more:

• Create the Perfect Patio

The Home Design category is sponsored by Budget Blinds of Northwest Arkansas. (Click here to read more about this local company.) For a free in-house design consultation, call their office at 479-751-6655. They bring their mobile showroom to your home, which is SO much easier than trying to remember what your windows look like. Click here to visit their website.

Click the play arrow below to see a demo of motorized blinds.

We have some exciting news, mamas! We were recently approached by At Home in Arkansas’ Associate Editor Paulette Pearson to write a post for their guest blogger series online. Um, YES! We were stoked.

Well, the post just published on their blog and we wanted to share our excitement with all of you. And a link, of course!

Click HERE to read our guest post about how to “Reclaim Your Domain”.

All mamas know how a once stylish home can turn into toyland soon after the babies arrive. In the guest post, we share some tips for balancing your kids’ need for stuff and your need for a beautiful space. Of course, we’re not claiming to be experts. We just offered some ideas that have worked for us.

We hope you enjoy the post! And thanks again, Paulette, for asking. You rock!

It’s about time to get back out in the garden! The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks has some classes available that might help with your plans:

Edible Landscaping with Leigh Wilkerson, the Larrapin Gardener

Saturday, March 27th from 10 am to noon

Gardeners of all levels are invited to join Leigh Wilkerson, gardener and author of the Larrapin Garden blog for an exploration of edible landscaping inspired by permaculture (that’s a picture from Leigh’s blog above). This two-hour presentation will offer beautiful images, tips, and resources for incorporating beautiful edibles in your home landscape of any size.

Leigh says: “Edibles can go everywhere. There are dozens of ways to make your entire landscape yummy for songbirds, butterflies, your pet chickens, pollinators, and you, too! Make your space, whether large or small, beautiful, bountiful and alive.” The registration fee for this class is $10 for BGSO members and $15 for non-members.  Register online

HOMEGROWN! Organic Veggie Gardening For Beginners

April 15 at 5:30pm, Leigh Wilkerson will present an introduction to organic gardening for beginners. This class will prepare you to grow a garden in any space, from a balcony to an acreage to a community garden plot. In this two-hour class, Leigh will show you beautiful images of bountiful gardens and give you tips, techniques, and resources.  This program was sold out last year, so reserve your place today!  The registration fee for this class is $10 for BGSO members and $15 for non-members. Register online

Garden Walk: The Magic of Spring Bulbs

Tuesday, April 13th at 10 and Saturday, April 17 at 10

Susan Regan and the horticulture staff will lead a tour of the Garden’s thousands of spring blooms. This walking tour will feature the tulips and daffodils you know and love, but will also highlight the lesser known beauties, including fritillaria, anenomes, crocus and other rare varieties.  Register Online The registration fee for this class is $10 for BGSO members and $15 for non-members. This is the second Garden Walk of the year—consider purchasing a Garden Walk Passport for all eight walks. (makes a great gift for a gardening friend, too!)

Some other BGO info you might want to know:

Fayetteville Farmers’ Market Returns

Opening Day of the second season of the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market at the Garden will be Sunday, April 4.  The market will feature even more vendors of locally grown produce and locally made crafts.  The market runs from April through October each Sunday from 9:00am to 2:00pm.  Check bgozarks.org for special programs in partnership with the market.

Garden Elements Now Online

The current issue of BGO’s quarterly member newsletter, Garden Elements, is now available online.  Read about Gerald Klingaman’s favorite winter blooming plants and learn about upcoming events and programs this spring.

Happy Spring — and gardening!

It happens every spring. I spot my neighbors beautiful pink tulips and yellow jonquils and wish I had something blooming in my stark flowerbed.

But then I realize that you can’t get tulips in the spring unless you’ve planted them months before, and I’m never quite sure when to do that. But I just found out that the time to plant is NOW, so I’m passing along the tip to my fellow flower-loving mamas.

I ran across an article in the most recent isssue of Southern Living that says it’s time to plant bulbs for spring flowers. Author Gene Bussell interviewed Chris Wiesinger, founder of The Southern Bulb Company, to pick up some tips about what kinds of bulbs to plant in the South. Here are a few of his picks listed in the article:

Jonquils –blooms in late February. (pictured at right)

Campernelle — grows in clumps and blooms in late February

Grand Primo Daffodil – creamy white petals with a yellow center. Good multiplier. Blooms in late February.

Snowflake — Looks like little white bells with a green dot on each pteal. Blooms early March. (pictured at right)

Grape Hyacinth — Blue clusters of bell-shaped blooms. Blooms in mid-March.

Golden Dawn Daffodil — Bears multiple flowers in early April.

Lady Jane Tulip – Pink and white blooms. Best planted in en masse. Blooms late March.

Tinka Tulip — Red and pale yellow. Blooms in late March.

Byzantine Gladiolus – Magenta blooms with swordlike foliage. Blooms mid-April. (pictured at right)

Click HERE to go to the Southern Living website to read more about planting bulbs or check out www.southernbulbs.com for more info on the flowers mentioned here. Pick up a copy of the magazine to see some beautiful photos of all the flowers listed so you can decide which ones are your favorites. Planting them together with the kids might be a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Happy gardening!